Derald Wing Sue > Quotes

“(b) those who endorse a color-blind ideology actually engage in a higher rate of racially insensitive behaviors, and”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino Americans were second-class-status Americans. They were seldom welcomed and were told to stay in their place and not allowed into the mainstream culture of the privileged even when fully acculturated.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“When educators lack critical consciousness about race/racism, have not adequately dealt with their own racial hang-ups, and are uncomfortable and unprepared to deal with difficult dialogues on race, they become part of the race talk problem (Bell, 2003; Pollock, 2004).”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“While self-change requires becoming a nonracist person, societal change requires becoming an antiracist one.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“Yes, we are all the same under the skin, and human beings, but why is being human defined from a White, Western perspective?”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“I feel strongly that it is the selfish person who needs to change, not the selfless person. (Zhang)”
― Derald Wing Sue, Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice

“(c) attaining a racially color-blind society is unattainable and only reinforces racism and societal inequality.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“Through a process of social conditioning, however, White children are increasingly taught to associate only positive qualities with their own race and negative ones with other racial groups. The process of our cultural conditioning occurs through significant others (Sue, 2003), our educational curriculum (Minow, Shweder, & Markus, 2008), the mass media (Cortes, 2008), and institutions in society (APA Presidential Task Force, 2012; J. M. Jones, 1997).”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“the belief that a race-neutral society can produce procedural justice for all groups and that it will end prejudice and discrimination is not supported by research on color-blind racial ideology.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“multicultural education that has a strong antiracist orientation is of utmost importance in helping children to develop a nonracist identity.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“Individuals who have come to recognize and own their biased beliefs and prejudices, their roles in perpetuating racism, the pain their obliviousness has inflicted on people of color, and their privileged and advantaged position in society may feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“When people of color talk racism, Whites seem to interpret statements as a personal accusation, and rather than reach out to understand the content, respond in a defensive and protective posture. In many cases, even statements of racial facts/statistics such as definitions of racism, disparities in income and education, segregation of neighborhoods, hate crime figures, and so forth arouse defensiveness in many Whites.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“Other groups of color need to acknowledge the courage of Black America, and our indebtedness to them for what we have learned from their struggles. Although all groups can recount their own unique struggles for equal rights, African Americans have always been in the forefront in advocating for social justice. Many other groups of color (and other marginalized groups—women and LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer] individuals) have learned much from the Black movement, including the importance of group identity, and have profited from the work, struggle, and sacrifice of African American brothers and sisters.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“In many respects, anger and defensiveness may become so aroused that the person loses control of their self-monitoring capacities and the ability to accurately assess the external environment. These latter two characteristics are extremely important for a successful dialogue on race.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“Second, there is something insidiously pathological about the melting pot concept in its assumption that groups should assimilate. Wehrly states, “Cultural assimilation, as practiced in the United States, is the expectation by the people in power that all immigrants and people outside the dominant group will give up their ethnic and cultural values and will adopt the values and norms of the dominant society—the White, male Euro-Americans” (1995, p. 5). Many psychologists of color, however, have referred to this process as cultural genocide, an outcome of colonial thought (Guthrie, 1997; Thomas & Sillen, 1972).”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“while the politeness protocol, the academic protocol, and the color-blind protocol serve as ground rules that prevent race talk by Whites, the commandments (a) “Thou shall not air dirty laundry in public” and (b) “Thou shall not speak ill of one another and destroy group unity” are equally powerful forces preventing people of color from honestly dialoguing about their thoughts and feelings toward one another.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“Racial dialogues are microcosms of race relations in the United States; reenact the biases, prejudices, and stereotypes of the wider society; invalidate and punish dissenting voices; and force compliance on groups of color.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“all groups hold stereotypes, biases, and prejudices and can on an individual level discriminate against one another: People of color can discriminate against Whites and even against one another. But not all groups hold the power to impose their values and lifestyles on others, and thus hypothetically cannot oppress on a broader level. Many multicultural scholars contend that racism is about institutional power, a form of power that people of color just do not possess (APA Presidential Task Force, 2012; J. M. Jones, 1997; Sue & Sue, 2013).”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“All of us are touched by the organizations that employ us and/or in which we are required to seek their goods and services. It goes without saying that such organizations are generally monocultural in nature (White Euro-American) that demand compliance (in the form of culture-bound rules and regulations) on the part of individuals who come in contact with them. Although most of us readily acknowledge the existence of individual racism, the biases of institutional racism are difficult to recognize because they are hidden within the fabric of the policies and practices of the organization (J. M. Jones, 1997).”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“issues or racial situations present themselves, it is important to ask, “Where are the feelings of uneasiness, differentness, or outright fear coming from?” They may reveal or say something about one's biases and prejudices.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“There is a triple purpose to the existence of White privilege: (1) to advantage White Americans, (2) to disadvantage persons of color, and (3) to attribute causes to individual deficiencies, thereby relieving White society of responsibility for perpetuating inequality.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“Let us, for the moment, assume that assimilation is desirable and that becoming a part of your country of residence is important. The question is this: Shouldn't we, therefore, all become Native Americans? Further, why aren't we?”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“The problem with the maintenance of harmony is that it negates deeper explorations of biases, stereotypes, and nested emotions associated with race and racism. The teachable moment is lost.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“Boyd-Franklin (2003, 2010) describes teaching Black children, especially males, (a) to express aggression indirectly in the face of insults and indignities, (b) to create as few waves as possible by engaging in ritualized accommodating/subordinating behaviors, and (c) to read the thoughts of others while hiding their own.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“Fourth, it may be that remediation is less effective than prevention and starting at a young age (childhood) to combat stereotypes may offer a more effective solution.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“In the analysis of some scholars, the media has delighted in playing up interracial/interethnic conflicts leading to political consequences to the detriment of communities of color (E. H. Kim, 1998; Sue & Sue, 2013).”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“Whites do not realize that possessing unchecked power and control over others often results in the dimming of their own perceptiveness and leads to a distorted reality. This is because their high status and power means they (a) seldom have to worry or even think about people of color, (b) use only one another to validate their sense of a false racial reality, and (c) inaccurately define people of color from a stereotypical template.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“It is clear that the early founders had good intentions and meant well; they were not evil men whose conscious motivation was to oppress and dominate others.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“In order to deflect the perceived criticism, trainees may directly or indirectly attack the content of the communication (message) and/or the credibility of the communicator. When confronted with a defensive challenge by trainees, facilitators of race talk may also become defensive when they find that their message is being invalidated or that their credibility is being assailed.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

“what race talk is likely to evoke in well-intentioned White Americans: denial and strong emotions such as fear, guilt, confusion, and helplessness.”
― Derald Wing Sue, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race